Tag: greater minnesota

With the pandemic on the wane and people ramping up their transitions back to full-time work, childcare will be right back where it was before the pandemic—under-resourced and hard to find, especially in rural areas. And it has a real impact on our economy.     By Marnie Werner, Vice President, Research & Operations Here ...

On this episode, Marnie Werner and Kelly Asche speak with the Minnesota State Demographer Susan Brower. The conversation covers how the process of drawing new district and approval differ on paper vs. the reality, how much of rural Minnesota isn’t growing in population, but isn’t really declining either, and ideas on how rural areas might ...

Welcome to season 2 of the INTERCONNECTED conversation series hosted by the Center for Rural Policy & Development and the Citizens League. Wherever you live, you have undoubtedly encountered the term “Urban/Rural Divide” that describes a divisive narrative in policy and politics based on geographic differences. In reality, we all want similar things – good ...

  By Kelly Asche, Research Associate If the pandemic has made us realize anything, it’s the importance of hospitals and access to health care across Minnesota. They played a crucial role in deploying vaccines, taking care of our sick, and being a hub of information while the pandemic played out. And now that we are ...

On this episode, Marnie Werner discusses her newest research report coming out in February on the rising values of agriculture lands and the rising property taxes associated with these values. We discuss the disconnect between the value of ag land and farm profitability, the increasing role investors and non-farmers are having on the issue, and ...

  In 2007, Minnesota set a goal of reducing the state’s carbon emissions by 80% by 2050. Since then, electric utilities have been making significant progress, but not enough to meet the state’s interim carbon-reduction goals.   What does this shifting energy infrastructure mean for rural Minnesota? On Thursday, January 20, research associate, Whitney Oachs, ...

by Marnie Werner, VP Research & Operations Between 2000 and 2015, the price of farmland went on a tear. Prices climbed to levels unseen before, making people nervous. Now, after a respite between 2015 and 2020 where prices stayed fairly level, the farmland market is heating up again. These record prices have implications not just ...

In this episode, CRDP researcher Whitney Oachs discusses her new research examining the issues, barriers and opportunities facing rural energy providers in shifting their infrastructure to renewable sources. She is joined by Tim Velde, who sits on the Board of Directors for the Minnesota Valley Cooperative Light & Power Association as well as on the ...

January 2022 Whitney Oachs, Research Associate For a printable version of this report, click here. In 2007, Minnesota set a goal of reducing the state’s carbon emissions by 80% by 2050. Since then, electric utilities have been making significant progress, but not enough to meet the state’s interim carbon-reduction goals. The MN Department of Commerce’s ...